1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image formation system wherein a color image formation apparatus and a black-and-white image formation apparatus are connected to a network.
2. Description of the Related Art
With regard to image formation of jobs containing color pages and black-and-white (hereafter may be also referred to as “monochrome” or may be abbreviated as “B/W” particularly in the drawings) pages, an apparatus proposed in Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2000-112688 is known as an image formation system which can automatically switch between a color image formation apparatus and a black-and-white image formation apparatus for forming images.
However, with the conventional method, image formation of jobs that include both color pages and black-and-white pages can be handled by forming the color pages with a color image formation apparatus, forming the black-and-white pages with a black-and-white image formation apparatus, and collating using an inserter, collator, hand feed tray, etc. However, in the event that there is both a color page and a black-and-white page to be formed on the same sheet, the image formation apparatus to be used for forming the images cannot be automatically determined. Also, even if the image formation apparatus to be used for forming images containing a color page and a black-and-white page on the same sheet could be automatically determined, the control of the color image formation apparatus and the black-and-white image formation apparatus needs to be changed according to the mixing method with the inserter, collator, hand feed tray, etc., and accordingly, such an arrangement could not be readily realized.